Thanh Hoa (VNA) — Thousands of slaughterhouses inthe central province of Thanh Hoa are operating without licences and failing tomeet hygiene and food safety requirements, the province’s Animal Health Divisionhas announced.

Accordingto the division, more than 80 percent of the province’s 2,473 slaughterhousesare substandard, failing to meet hygiene and food safety requirement andlacking waste collection and treatment systems.

The substandard slaughterhouses, mostly in households, process more than 90 percentof cattle and poultry in the province.

Deputy head of the Animal Health Division Le Van Sonsaid that in 2013, there were over 2,800 small-sized slaughterhouses in theprovince. Most of them were unlicensed.

InSeptember 2013, the province People’s Committee approved a plan worth 974billion VND (42.84 million USD) to develop 100 industrial slaughterhouses inthe province by 2020 to replace the substandard ones.

However, in the last four years, only 400 substandard facilities were removed.

Meanwhile, eight industrial slaughterhouses havebeen completed since 2003, when the province called on investors to developslaughterhouse projects.

However, half of the industrial slaughterhouseshalted operation, and the remaining ones lack clients.

Vu Tien Ngan, an owner of an industrialslaughterhouse in Sam Son city, said that in 2003, he spent 1.1 billion VND (48,400USD) to build a 2,000sq.m slaughterhouse which can deal with 50-70 pigs daily.

Hisslaughterhouse starting operation in middle 2014 received only 30-40 pigs perday in about six months and then, he had fewer and fewer clients, Ngan said.

“Theslaughter was unused for years until 2013 when local agencies encouraged me tore-start the slaughterhouse, saying that they would call on more engagementfrom local farms,” Ngan said.

However,he said that he hardly saw changes.

The slaughterhouse of Thanh Hoa Farming ProductLtd Company which was invested over 6 billion VND (264,000 USD) but also unusedfor years, causing losses especially it was equipped with boiler, drying systemand a shelter for about 300-400 heads of cattle.

Son saidthat household-based slaughterhouses should be banned, and their unquarantinedproducts should be restricted from sale on market.

If so,farmers would take their cattle/poultry to industrial standard slaughterhouses,he said, but local agencies have so far failed to deliver sufficiently strictactions.-VNA